Language institutes back in person
Article By: Clark Leonard
This summer, 55 students from across the country immersed themselves in a foreign language on the University of North Georgia's (UNG) Dahlonega Campus in six-week Summer Language Institutes (SLI). The SLI academies, which ran from June 19-July 30, returned to campus after being held virtually in 2020.
Students learned Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, or Russian through extensive speaking practice and cultural activities, including field trips, cultural food and snacks, and art, cooking and dancing classes.
Jaden Davidson and Brandon Clark, a pair of incoming UNG freshmen from Dallas, Georgia, took part in the Chinese SLI. Both are pursuing a degree in cybersecurity and minoring in Chinese and have been accepted into UNG's Chinese Language Flagship program. The incoming cadets and Army ROTC Scholarship recipients were eager to earn eight credit hours of Chinese before starting their first full academic year.
"Being surrounded by a whole bunch of other people who are trying to learn Chinese as well, it's not you sitting in your room getting frustrated," Davidson said. "It's you sitting in a room with other people who are frustrated, and you help each other out."
Clark said having Yandan Wang, a full-time faculty member at UNG, as instructor and another native of China as the class tutor made learning the language more natural.
"It's a fast pace, but I enjoy it," Clark said.
Davidson and Clark received Project Global Officer (GO) scholarships to attend SLI. Project GO scholarships for domestic and study abroad programs help ROTC students achieve at least an intermediate level of language proficiency by the time they graduate college.
Each language SLI has a resident tutor who lives on the same hall as the students and a nonresident tutor who is in class with them.
This gives the students consistent access to someone who can help them practice the languages they are learning.
Jessica Woods, a junior from Boca Raton, Florida, pursuing a degree in East Asian studies at UNG with a concentration in Korean studies, is a nonresident tutor for the Korean SLI.
If the students excel in SLI, they can do well in study abroad programs.
Yandan Wang
Full-time faculty member and Chinese SLI instructor
She wishes she had a focused time to learn Korean like her students do.
"It's been very fun watching them develop their skills," Woods said.
Dr. Juman Al Bukhari, associate professor at UNG, taught the Arabic SLI virtually in 2020 and was grateful to return to in-person instruction this summer.
She said the cultural experiences give students a greater appreciation for the language. They also had a chance to speak online with people from around the world to practice their language skills.
"The best way to experience a culture is by your tongue," she said. "You speak the language and you taste the food."
Wang said previous students told her SLI is a challenging language program, but the rigor can set up students to dig deeper in languages throughout their college career.
"If the students excel in SLI, they can do well in study abroad programs," Wang said.
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